Delphine Hanna

Delphine Hanna (December 2, 1854 – April 16, 1941) was an American physician, teacher, and college professor. She taught physical education at Oberlin College beginning in 1885, and became the first woman to hold the title "Professor of Physical Education" in the United States in 1903.

Delphine Hanna
An older white woman, dark hair in a bouffant updo, wearing tiny glasses and a white blouse with a high collar
Delphine Hanna, from a 1910 yearbook
BornDecember 2, 1854
Markesan, Wisconsin, US
DiedApril 16, 1941
Castile, New York, US
Occupation(s)Physician, college professor

Early life

Hanna was born in Markesan, Wisconsin, the daughter of John Vacausan Hanna and Juliet Chadwick Hanna.[1] She moved to New York in 1864 after her mother's death, and earned a teaching credential from Brockport State Normal School in 1874, studied physical culture with Diocletian Lewis and Dudley Allen Sargent,[2] and completed a medical degree from the University of Michigan in 1890. She completed a bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 1901.[3]

Career

Hanna taught school in New York and Kansas as a young woman.[4] She taught at Oberlin College from 1885 to 1920. Adelia Field Johnston hired Hanna to start a physical education program for women students;[5] she also taught a class for male students, and another for faculty members. She was director of the school's Women's Gymnasium, and of the school's course for training teachers of physical education. Under her direction, the school added tennis courts, a basketball court, and a skating rink.[6] She established the first four-year program for women to earn a bachelor's degree in physical education, and in 1903 became the first woman to be a full professor of physical education in the United States.[7][8] In summer 1905, she made a study trip to Germany and Sweden.[9][10] In 1931, she was named in the first cohort of fellows of the American Physical Education Association.[3][11]

Hanna's Oberlin students included many highly influential physical educators, including Luther Halsey Gulick.[12], Fred Eugene Leonard, Jay B. Nash, Jesse F. Williams, and Thomas D. Wood, all of whom went on to become elected Fellows in the National Academy of Kinesiology (née American Academy of Physical Education).[13]

Personal life

Hanna retired in 1920 and moved to Coconut Grove, Florida;[14][15][16] she died in Castile, New York, in 1941, aged 86 years.[17] Oberlin established the Delphine Hanna Foundation to support physical education programs at the college. Since 1992, the National Association of Kinesiology in Higher Education (NAKHE) has held an annual Delphine Hanna Lecture in her memory.[3] Her grave is with those of her relatives in Perinton, New York.[2]

References
  1. Hanna, Delphine (1941-10-01). "Brief Outline of the Life and Work of Dr. Delphine Hanna". Research Quarterly. American Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation. 12 (sup3): 646–652. doi:10.1080/10671188.1941.10624708. ISSN 1067-1188.
  2. Poray, Bill. "Perinton’s Little-Known Educational Pioneer" Perinton Historical Society.
  3. Delphine Hanna Lecturers, National Association of Kinesiology in Higher Education.
  4. Lynn, Minnie L. (1960-04-01). "Delphine Hanna". Journal of Health, Physical Education, Recreation. 31 (4): 51–111. doi:10.1080/00221473.1960.10611250. ISSN 0022-1473.
  5. Keeler, Harriet L. (1912). The Life of Adelia A. Field Johnston ... Britton Printing. p. 136.
  6. Hanna, Delphine (April 1904). "Championship Skating as one of the Events of a Women's Athletic Association". Mind and Body. 11: 56.
  7. "Delphine Hanna". The Lucy Stone walk-a-thon Tour, Oberlin College Archives. Archived from the original on 2003-06-21. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
  8. O'Connor, Karen (2010-08-18). Gender and Women's Leadership: A Reference Handbook. SAGE. p. 883. ISBN 978-1-4129-6083-0.
  9. "European Trip for Enlightenment". American Gymnasia and Athletic Record. 1: 283. June 1905.
  10. "Medical Gymnastics". Posse Gymnasium Journal. 13: 11. July 1905.
  11. Hanna, Delphine (April 1894). "The Treatment of Lateral Curvature by Gymnastics and Massage". Report of the Ninth Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Physical Education: 118–124.
  12. Hopkins, Charles Howard (1951). History of the Y.M.C.A. in North America. Association Press. p. 253.
  13. Cardinal, Bradley J. (2022). "The National Academy of Kinesiology: Its founding, focus, and future". Kinesiology Review. 11 (1): 6–25. doi:10.1123/kr.2021-0064.
  14. "Dr. Hanna Entertains for Guests from Ohio". The Miami Herald. 1922-02-06. p. 7. Retrieved 2021-03-11 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. "Coconut Grove Society". The Miami Herald. 1921-01-11. p. 6. Retrieved 2021-03-11 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. "Dr. Lowe Gives Address at A. A. U. W. Meeting". The Miami News. 1935-04-10. p. 13. Retrieved 2021-03-11 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. "Delphine Hanna Burial Services Set for Today". Democrat and Chronicle. 1941-04-19. p. 14. Retrieved 2021-03-11 – via Newspapers.com.
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